The Familiar Taste of Poison
by BewareTheHounds
Summary: Dean's in the Marines. Roman's a banker. The time apart is starting to affect their relationship. Can they mend the gap that's growing between them? AU Ambreigns slash.
1. Chapter 1: Today and Tomorrow

**Chapter One - Today and Tomorrow**

"… I'll see you in a week.

_Love always,_

_Dean."_

With a sigh and a smile, Roman laid the letter down on his night stand. Well, just as soon as he was done reading through it a few more times. He turned onto his side and breathed in deeply. The letter was dated June 20th.

"Home tomorrow." Roman whispered to himself, looking up at his alarm clock.

10:30, July 26th.

He gazed at the empty space next to him, thinking that tomorrow night, it'd be filled. A little while later, he was sleeping peacefully.

* * *

Roman sat at his desk, impatience weighing heavily on his usually chilled out and professional demeanor, as the hands of the clock ticked by. Twenty minutes to go. He loved his job but, today was just not a work day. Dean was coming home. Every minute felt like an hour.

"He's home today, huh?" a bright voice broke his train of thought.

Roman looked to his short, bubbly colleague and smiled happily. "Yeah, I'm picking him up after work."

She gave a wide, cheesy grin and squeaked. "Oh my God, I bet you can't wait to see him!" she bounced back over to the cashier's counter and plopped down in her seat, looking at her wedding ring. "I can't even imagine what it'd be like if Phil was away for six months in one go..." she sighed happily.. "I mean... making up for all that lost time-"

"Yeah, it's been a while." he nodded, cutting her off. He got up from his seat and walked to the coffee machine. "Hey April, you want a coffee? I'm going to get some."

"Oh, yeah... thanks." she smiled from her spot, turning back to her screen and tapping away, closing up the till for the day. When Roman came back over, she looked away from the screen and grinned at him. "So, when are you guys going to... y'know?" she worried her ring in his direction.

Roman chuckled, sipping his coffee. "I don't think it's for us. We're happy as we are."

April cocked her eyebrow at him. "Well, let's evaluate shall we? Relationship evaluation time with Aunt AJ." she raised her finger, watching Roman roll his eyes. "You live together. You've been together for as long as I've known you. You love him like a fat kid loves cake and he loves you. Just get married for chrissakes!" she grinned. "The sight of you two makes me wanna puke rainbows, you're so damn perfect..."

"Ever since you finally got Phil to settle down with you, you've been pushing me to marry Dean." he laughed. "I love him, he loves me, that's all that matters."

Her smile stuck to her features. "Yeah, well. My wedding day was the happiest day of my life and you guys deserve a moment like that."

Roman nodded. Her wedding day was a wonderful occasion. Dean had been granted special permission to come back for it. AJ looked beautiful, the location was amazing and the ceremony was perfect. He remembered secretly holding hands with Dean, in the church, on one of the back rows. He'd always thought that he'd be married by now, when he was in his teens. He couldn't see himself marrying Dean but, in that moment, watching AJ say 'I do.', he looked at Dean and wanted what she and Phil had.

"I always thought I'd be married at the age I'm at but, I don't think Dean's the marrying type." he looked down at the counter in front of him. "Besides, I'd look awful in a dress." he joked.

AJ giggled and took his large hand in hers. "Yeah, you would." the clock chimed in the background. "Ah, the weekend starts here." she tapped his hand and let him go. "Y'know, when you and Dean get a moment out of bed," Roman shook his head at her and smiled, turning to walk away. "you should come and hang out with Phil and me."

"Sounds like a blast..." Roman furrowed his brows playfully.

"He does a mean steak..." she tried reasoning with him.

"Ooooh." he thought of a plate of steak and fries and gave in. "Okay, I'll call you, see you on Monday."

"Enjoy!" she breezed, heading to her locker.

* * *

Roman stood in the arrivals lounge, waiting on the announcement saying that Dean's plane had got in. He checked his watch and got himself another coffee, his third within a two hour period.

"Rome?" he felt a hand on his shoulder.

He twirled round and met the smile of a woman, with long blonde hair, pulling her into a hug. "Michelle!" he smiled brightly, embracing his friend tightly. "How are you?" he pulled back and held her shoulders in his hands.

"Excited!" she beamed. "Did you hear?"

"Hear what?" Roman rose his eyebrow, his grip lessening, smile fading. "Is there something wrong?"

Michelle shook her head. "No, not at all. The plane's a delayed a little. They hit turbulence."

He took a breath in, relieved. "Oh, by how long?"

"About half an hour." she smiled.

He smiled back and looked around the room. It was filled with people he recognised, all of them waiting for loved ones. "Where are the twins?" he asked of Michelle's baby boys.

"With their Grandpa." her face lit up. "I can't wait for them to meet their Daddy for the first time."

"He'll fall in love with them as soon as he sees them. They're beautiful." Roman stated, suddenly desperate to see Dean. "We should go to the gate. They'll be here soon."

* * *

**A/N: So, what do you think? It's obviously AU and it's kind of what I do best, haha. Hope you enjoy this. It'll be a semi-shortish multi chapter which I will post over a few weeks, depending on the speed at which I write it! Mwah xx**


	2. Chapter 2: Home

**Chapter Two - Home**

At approximately six o'clock, a flight, carrying a handful of excited Marines that were anxious to get home, touched down. Dean woke with a jolt. It'd been a very long flight and he'd slept through almost all of it. One of his fellow Marines -and school friend- Adam Jenson, gave him a friendly and not-so-gentle shove.

"Hey sleepyhead. We're home!" he delivered calmly in a tired, low tone.

Dean grumbled, rubbing his eyes with the heels of his hands. "What time is it?"

"It's uh..." Adam scoured the plane, looking for a clock, a screen, anything that might have the time on it. "Oh, just after six."

"Evening?" he asked groggily which earned him a smile and a nod. "Good."

His friend laughed, clapping him on the shoulder. "I'm out of here, brother. Catch you in a few days."

Dean smiled and nodded, bumping fists with him as he left. "Later." he replied, stretching out in his seat. He raised his arms above his head, hands clasped, and grinned wide when he heard the satisfying crack coming from his lower back, a happy groan following it. He looked out of the window and sighed. "Home."

* * *

He picked up his bags from the carousel and pulled his suitcase out behind him. In the background, he could hear a commotion. A mix of happy squeals, cheers, tears and exclamations of joy. It brought a smile to his face. He took a deep breath and headed towards the arrivals lounge. He knew he was out there. The one person he'd come home for. It'd been a long time since he'd seen Roman in the flesh, just over six months, now he was seconds away from him. He stepped out into the busy area excitedly and immediately started to look for him.

* * *

Roman's heart jumped when he looked up at the board that detailed the flights and saw that Dean's flight had arrived. He got straight out of his seat and fidgeted from foot to foot, thrumming with anticipation. He could feel his face flushing and his eyes welling up. He shook it off and wiped his eyes. Michelle grabbed his hand.

"You're going to scare him off." she smiled lopsidedly, tugging him gently back into his seat.

"I'm just... I really want to see him." Roman whispered.

Her understanding nod was punctuated with a comforting squeeze. "I remember the first time Mark came home from duty..." she thought on it for a moment. "I'd been holding onto the thought for days... when he got home, I threw myself at him and it sort of freaked him out. For a few seconds anyway. I'd never seen him cry. Not even on our wedding day." she chuckled. Roman smiled softly back at her. "Just hold him." she added. "Leave the making out and stuff for when you get him home." Roman laughed at her whispered quip. "You'll have plenty of time for that."

He looked down at his hand, tucked in hers, and nibbled his lips. He sighed reaching up and taking his tie off and opening the top couple of buttons. "Do I look okay?" his expression was coy and nervous.

Michelle rose her eyebrow at him. "Oh boy." she smiled, shaking her head. "You look fine." Suddenly, she heard an excited squeal across the room. Her head whipped around to where a woman and her partner were embracing. She grinned widely at Roman, hugging him quickly. "Enjoy!"

Roman looked up, seeing what Michelle had, accepting the warm hug. His heart kicked into overdrive. He scanned the group of people pouring through the gates, looking for Dean. His hands buried into his pockets as he walked through the crowd.

Lo and behold, Dean was last out of the gate. Roman spotted him right away. His eyes lit up. There he was, fatigues rumpled from the flight, five o'clock shadow adorning his sleepy face. All he wanted was to do was sprint over and lift him into his arms but, if only to keep Dean's masculinity intact, he decided to take Michelle's advice and fought his way through the crowd, calmly walking to meet him.

Dean found Roman, head and shoulders above the mostly female contingent of forces wives and girlfriends. A wide smile spread across his face. He hurriedly moved to meet him in the middle.

When their eyes met, Dean dropped his bags and threw his arms around Roman, resting his head on his shoulder. He didn't say anything, he just hugged him tight. Roman totally succumbed to his presence and wrapped his arms around him. He buried his face in the crook his lover's neck and discreetly pressed a kiss to the side of his head.

"You have no idea how much I missed you." Roman whispered, eyes closing.

Dean pulled back and looked at Roman, eyes locked on his. "You have no idea." he gave him a watery smile and brought his forehead close to rest against Roman's. He sighed, his eyes threatening to spring a leak. "Can we go home?" he chuckled.

"Yeah," Roman smiled, wrapping his arm around Dean's shoulders and leading him to the car, carrying a couple of his bags.

* * *

As soon as the front door closed behind them, Roman pulled Dean back into his arms. He'd played this scenario out in his head hundreds of times before, late at night when all he wanted was to feel him laying beside him. He'd wanted to pin him to the wall, strip him down and make mad, passionate, boundaries down love to him, right there, just inside the door...

But now that he had him, he didn't know what to do. Sex somehow felt off the table. Even the thought of kissing him felt kind of strange. He hadn't felt his presence for months.

Everything felt too surreal. Actually having him home didn't feel at all real yet. All he could feel was elation at the fact that he was finally home.

"Rome?" Dean chuckled, pulling away from him, gently patting his cheek. "You okay?"

Hug him to death it is.

"I am now..."

* * *

**A/N: Inspiration struck me and, although it's a little on the short side, the story can really begin now! Thanks for your reviews, follows, favourites and most of all for taking your time to read this! I'm a happy writer xx**


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